A LUDIC-BASED AUTHORABLE GAME FRAMEWORK FOR EDUCATING AND INTEGRATING EXCLUDED GROUPS

The IOLAOS project aims at increasing the effectiveness of digital games in the integration of excluded groups in society.
Despite impressive advances on digital games in general and educational games in specific, research and technological development in Europe remains scattered with no connection between traditional digital game industry, the research community (educational theories, educational physiology, pedagogy, etc.), intermediaries (teachers, trainers, parents etc.) and users.
The main objective of this proposal is to increase the effectiveness of digital games for educational experts, carers (teachers, trainers, parents) and users (adults, schoolers, pre-schoolers) with integration issues who are at risk of exclusion (socially, physically or technologically disadvantaged groups) and of those who consider themselves unsuited for education. Furthermore IOLAOS as a general open authorable framework for personalized educational games intents to make a real change in the life of a large number of targeted excluded groups and thus enhance their better integration in society.
Participants in this project come from all relevant areas in the proposal’s field, software engineering, educational experts, game industry, and school teachers individuals/users and aims to change the way that (a) game industry designs and develops educational games, (b) educational experts and carers cooperate together to rich a common goal, namely the education of excluded groups and (c) the individual’s/user’s active involvement in her/his educational process.